ClickZ: The Viral Marketing Myth
A fairly muted response to Friendster's "Anchorman" viral marketing campaign, promoting the just-released Dreamworks movie, suggests that while viral marketing can be immensely popular among reporters, it doesn't often seem to have the same degree of traction with most viewers. The Anchorman effort, involving the creation of fictitious Friendster identities to match characters in the movie, attracted Friendster connections with only hundreds of people. Nate Elliott wonders aloud if the entire phenomenon is mostly myth, with just a few break-out hits - like the famous Cog ad - lending false hopes to would-be viral marketers.
